The use of various types of dockboard assemblies at loading docks and the like has become a common practice for many years. Such assemblies facilitate the loading and unloading of vehicles parked adjacent the docks. The hinged ramp or deck, which forms a part of the assembly, compensates for the height variations in bed of the vehicle and allows forklift trucks and the like to readily move on and off the vehicle bed during loading and unloading of the vehicle. Pivotally connected to the outer edge of the ramp opposite its hinge axis is a lip which is adapted to span the distance between the rear end of the bed of the parked vehicle and the outer edge of the ramp.
In normal practice, when the vehicle is being maneuvered to its parked position or after it has assumed its parked position, the ramp is actuated to an upwardly pivoted position and the lip moved to an outwardly extended position. The ramp with the extended lip is then lowered until the extended lip overlies and contacts the bed of the vehicle.
In some instances, however, when the vehicle bed has been engaged before the vehicle has been backed into engagement with the safety bumpers, normally positioned on the front wall of the dock, such relative movement of the vehicle may cause the ramp to be forcibly pivoted upwardly sometimes creating undue stresses and strains within various components. Such stresses and strains oftentimes cause serious damage to the assembly and/or the dock on which it is mounted.